Science & the law

Our work integrates climate science with legal research and practice. We work in close partnership with the Environmental Change Institute, a world leader in the science of climate change attribution, and a lead partner on the World Weather Attribution initiative. We are embedded in a large close-knit network of scientists around the world at the cutting edge of this field and actively collaborate with scientists from a range of different disciplines. Our research has identified current and potential barriers to, and opportunities for, using the latest scientific evidence in courts. We also conduct research that evaluates the factual basis for causal claims made in pending and future litigation and provide scientific advice to lawyers.

Our research develops new methodologies in attribution science, for instance in attributing health impacts to greenhouse-gas emissions, and frameworks for integrating climate-science evidence into legal argumentation to facilitate wider use of scientific evidence in litigation. To achieve these goals, our team works with strategic litigants to map and/or develop the evidence base for ongoing or future cases.

The growth in legal action around climate change offers opportunities to accelerate the transition to a net-zero economy but the financial implications of climate litigation remain poorly understood. We work with private-sector actors and leading academics across the University of Oxford and beyond to assess, quantify, and reveal the materiality of these risks.

• Fredi Otto was listed in Nature's ten people who helped shape science in 2021.
• Rupert Stuart-Smith was mentioned in an article on stuff.co.nz – The (NZ) climate scientist taking on Brazil's Bolsonaro – regarding our contribution to evidence filed with the International Criminal Court.
• Arjuna Dibley was interviewed for a podcast with theStraits Times(national newspaper in Singapore) about climate adaptation.Green Pulse Podcast: Climate dictionary – What does adapting to climate change mean?
• Fredi Otto joined SLP affiliated members Joana Setzer and Lavanya Rajamani in a panel discussion -Climate Court: Cases of Climate Justice (video in link) - at the New York Times Climate Hub, COP26, 8th November 2021.
• Our research on the influence of climate change on extreme weather events has been widely covered by the global media, including the FT, New York Times, and BBC.
• Our work on the role of attribution science in the courts was launched at a panel event, and featured in the press, including the BBC, Carbon Brief, and The Guardian.
• Our research has provided attribution-science evidence in the context of ongoing litigation (see, for example, Global heating to blame for threat of deadly flood in Peru, study finds).
• Our engagement has helped educate the public on the relevance of attribution science to achieve climate justice in the courtroom (for example: BBC Radio interviews on The Climate Question and  Science in Action).
• We have also written expert reports that provide evidence for ongoing legal actions, including at the International Criminal Court.

• Stuart-Smith, R.F., Otto, F.E.L., Saad, A., Lisi, G., Minnerop, P., Lauta, K.C., van Zwieten, K., & Wetzer, T.  (2021). Filling the evidentiary gap in climate litigation. Nature Climate Change, 11. Report for practitioners
• Minnerop, P. and Otto, F. (2020) Climate change and causation: Joining law and climate science on the basis of formal logic. Buffalo Journal of Environmental Law, 27.
• Stuart-Smith, R.F., Roe, G.H., Li, S. and Allen, M.R. (2021) Increased outburst flood hazard from Lake Palcacocha due to human-induced glacier retreat. Nature Geoscience, 14: 85-90.
• Harrington, L.J. and Otto, F.E. (2019) Attributable damage liability in a non-linear climate. Climatic Change.
• Otto, F.E.L., Skeie, R.B., Fuglestvedt, J.S., Berntsen, T., Allen, M.R. (2017) Assigning historic responsibility for extreme weather events. Nature Climate Change, 7.
• Hannart, A., Pearl, J., Otto, F.E.L., Naveau, P. and Ghil, M. (2015) Causal counterfactual theory for the attribution of weather and climate-related events. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.

• Fredi Otto | Imperial College London

If you have any questions, would like to learn more, or want to get involved: please contact Rupert Stuart-Smith or Friederike (Fredi) Otto.